Incorporating serviceability limit state requirements into reliability-based analysis and design of piles

This study develops a novel reliability-based approach for the analysis and design of piles by incorporating Serviceability Limit State (SLS) requirements into Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) for Ultimate Limit States (ULS). Three methods for reliability-based analysis and design, namely the Mean Value First Order Second Moment (MVFOSM) method, the Advanced First Order Second Moment (AFOSM) method, and the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) method, are employed for comparison. In order to expediently quantify model uncertainties for SLS and incorporate them into the process of reliability-based analysis and design of piles, the SLS model factor (or bias factor) is established based on a two-parameter, hyperbolic curve-fitting equation describing the load-settlement relation. Herein, the limiting tolerable foundation settlement (slt) is treated as a random variable. Four load test databases from South Africa presented by Dithinde et al. (2011) are compiled again to conduct reliability analysis and calculate resistance factors. The case studies illustrate that the AFOSM method has the higher accuracy than the MVFOSM method as verified using the MCS method. This study recommends the AFOSM method to perform reliability analysis and determine resistance factors for Reliability-Based Design (RBD).